Page:The Naval Officer (1829), vol. 1.djvu/199

 above the wall. A dozen bullets were through it in a minute: very fortunately my head was not in it.

The fire of the batteries having ceased, which it generally did at stated periods, we had an opportunity of examining the point of attack. Scaling ladders, and dead bodies, lay in profusion. All the wounded had been removed; but what magnificent "food for powder" were the bodies which lay before us!—all, it would seem, picked men; not one less than six feet, and some more: they were clad in their grey capots, to render their appearance more sombre, and less discernible in the twilight of the morning; and as the weather was cold during the nights, I secretly determined to have one of these great coats as a chere amie to keep me warm in night-watches. I also resolved to have the colonel's sword to present to my captain; and as soon as it was dark I walked down the breach, brought up one of the scaling ladders, which I deposited